The construction of a new jail to ease overcrowding in Hays County could be delayed due to a lack of funding after county commissioners moved ahead with plans to construct a new $74 million county government and judicial facility.

The Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency began soliciting bids in December for a contractor to own and operate an immigration detention facility in Los Angeles County.

The correctional industry has a proud history of grappling with the most difficult times head on and with great success. The challenges have come in various forms at various times, from trailing behind the business world at the onset of information technology, oftentimes dragging ourselves kicking and screaming into the 21st century, to recovering in a post-September 11 world that changed everything.

The state prison population will increase by an estimated 14 percent to a record level of approximately 16,000 inmates during the next six years, according to population projections by state’s Office of Economic Analysis.

A federal court panel sent state authorities back to the drawing board to draft a new plan to address California’s prison overcrowding problem after rejecting a proposal from Gov. Schwarzenegger that would have cut the prison population by 20,000 inmates over two years.